Five World Class footballers who turned down Arsenal

5. Vincent Kompany

The Belgian captain was impressive from his Anderlecht days. Kompany’s inspiring performances helped him play for the senior side at Anderlecht at the age of just 17. Kompany’s performances earned a lot of attraction and it was imminent that he would be leaving them soon. Arsene Wenger then made an approach to sign the young Kompany when he was 20 years old, but failed to get his signature as the Belgian’s camp taught moving to Arsenal wouldn’t help his development to the optimum level. Years later, Kompany joined Manchester City and has become a huge success since then.

4. Jamie Vardy

The 2015-16 season of the Premier League will surely not be easily forgotten. Leicester City did the impossible as they turned into League Champions from being a relegation surviving club. Jamie Vardy had a massive role to play in that as he went on scoring plenty of goals, grabbing a lot of attention from the English clubs. Arsenal made a £22m bid to sign the English striker but Vardy had other plans. He rejected a move to Arsenal as he felt their playing ideology was not on the same lines as that of the Foxes and it was better if he stayed with Leicester.

3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

The Swedish striker is a superstar of a footballer. Zlatan has been amazing for every club he has played for. He started his career with Malmo and it was then when he grabbed a lot of interest from elsewhere. Arsene Wenger was one of those interested ones and things were going well until Wenger asked Zlatan to have a trial for the club. Zlatan rejected to do so as he was of the opinion that he doesn’t do auditions and kept his stance throughout. Thus, a move failed but Zlatan has went on to achieve success on a constant basis in his career.

2. Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez was almost impossible to handle when he played for Liverpool in the Premier League under Brendan Rodgers. As much terrific Suarez was with the Reds, it was hurting him as all his efforts were not helping him win trophies. Getting frustrated with the lack of silverware, Suarez was touted to move away after the 2012-13 season. Arsenal were close to sign the Uruguayan as their first bid was of £40m. After it was rejected, funny how Wenger went in with a second bid just £1 better than the last one. Suarez needed some convincing but it was enough to keep him at Anfield as Arsenal lost another chance of signing a world-class player.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo

The Portuguese started his career playing for Sporting Lisbon. Only after a season, it was no secret that Ronaldo would move away with the attraction he was gathering. A lot of English clubs were in for his signature including Arsenal. It is believed that Arsene Wenger met Ronaldo to push for a deal. But Sir Alex Ferguson stepped in at the right moment and made a deal with Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes to seal a move for the Portuguese to Manchester United. Things would have been so different for Arsenal had they signed Ronaldo then.